Henry "Hank" Adorno
Image: A.M. Holt/Daily Business Review
Henry "Hank" Adorno, co-founder of the collapsed Coral Gables, Fla.-based law firm Adorno & Yoss, was given a three-year suspension Thursday by the Florida Supreme Court.
The state high court rejected a recommendation from a referee who had concluded that Adorno should receive a public reprimand for his role in a controversial settlement with the city of Miami of a class action lawsuit over fire fees.
Adorno had urged a reprimand last November.
The high court noted a three-year suspension is the most severe sanction short of disbarment. The attorney was put under an indefinite suspension last October.
A Miami-Dade circuit court set aside a $7 million settlement that would have compensated only seven plaintiffs out of several thousand thought to be class members. Of the $7 million, $2 million in fees was to go to the law firm.
Adorno's suspension resulted in his resignation from the firm and it was renamed Yoss LLC. The successor firm ceased operating in late March, largely as a result of the fallout from Adorno's case.
